The international media has been rife with various stories about a large schism forming between Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his prime minister and Justice and Development Party (AKP) head, Ahmet Davutoglu. This comes after sudden news that Davutoglu will be resigning his post as prime minister and will also not seek to contest…

Senior Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan waves his hands as he leaves a polling station in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Jan. 25, 2006. (photo by REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa) Dismissed Fatah leader and former member of Fatah’s Central Committee Mohammed Dahlan has been active on the regional and international levels in the past…

Iraqi Sunni Muslim fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units take part in a ceremony marking the Iraqi Police Day at Amiriyat al-Fallujah in Anbar province, Jan. 9, 2016. (photo by REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani) On March 12, US Consul General Steve Walker visited Al-Sadr Teaching Hospital in Basra to pay his respects to wounded members of the Popular Mobilization Units.…

Udi Aloni said comments at Berlin Film Festival were directed at Israeli government, rather than at country he ‘loves’ Filmmaker Udi Aloni is interviewed at the Berlin Film Festival (YouTube screen grab) An award-winning Israeli director has branded Israel’s government as “fascist” during a press conference at a film festival in Germany. Udi…

Countries where Islam is already favoured in law, like Afghanistan and Iraq, show the strongest backing for having Sharia as the official law of the land The legal framework based on the moral and legal code of Islam is rarely out of the news. The most extreme interpretations of Sharia are being enforced by Isis…

US officials expressed frustration that Assad is trying to set his own rules about which opponents he is prepared to talk to File photo shows US Secretary of State John Kerry (AFP) US Secretary of State John Kerry flew in to Moscow on Tuesday to meet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and urge him…

A miniature from 1561 depicting Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I marching with an army in Nakhchivan, summer 1554, at the end of the Ottoman-Safavid War. (photo by Topkapi Palace Istanbul) Are Turkey and Iran reviving a 16th century conflict? In an Al-Monitor article on Dec. 7, Metin Gurcan discusses Turkey’s latest and controversial move near Mosul that aroused…